Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)/Aram

by Matthew George Easton

Aram:

Son of Shem

The son of Shem (Genesis 10:22); according to 22:21, a grandson of Nahor. In Matthew 1:3,4, and Luke 3:33, this word is the Greek form of Ram, the father of Amminadab (1 Chronicles 2:10).

Country

The word means high, or highlands, and as the name of a country denotes that elevated region extending from the northeast of Palestine to the Euphrates. It corresponded generally with the Syria and Mesopotamia of the Greeks and Romans. In Genesis 25:20; 31:20,24; Deuteronomy 26:5, the word "Syrian" is properly "Aramean" (R.V., marg.). Damascus became at length the capital of the several smaller kingdoms comprehended under the designation "Aram" or "Syria."